


I Promised You A Rose Garden Along With My Heart

by StellarLibraryLady



Series: Stellar Flash Fiction [17]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bittersweet Ending, Dancing, Domestic, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Grieving Leonard, Hurt/Comfort, Love, Loving McCoy, M/M, Old Married Couple, Protective Spock, Romantic Spock, Rose Garden, Roses, Sentimental, Sentimental McCoy, Slow Dancing, Wise Spock, domestic life, love tokens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-27
Updated: 2017-05-27
Packaged: 2018-11-05 11:14:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11012292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StellarLibraryLady/pseuds/StellarLibraryLady
Summary: Spock and McCoy are living in their own home where a highlight is McCoy's rose garden.





	I Promised You A Rose Garden Along With My Heart

They found the house they’d always wanted, and McCoy was thrilled because he could cultivate the rose garden he’d always wanted. The roses compromised McCoy’s time, but he didn’t mind. He loved the feel of soil running through his hands. And after so many years in space without the sense of solid ground under his feet, he relished the pull of natural gravity.

“The idea of solid ground under your feet is a misnomer, Leonard. It is an illusion. You must realize that the Earth is a round ball hanging in space through a unique system of gravitational pulls, and it answers to all sorts of planetary rules.”

“Let me have my illusions, will you?” McCoy grumbled, but his growling had no teeth about it. He was contented with his home, his solid ground, and his Vulcan. 

The only thing missing was Jim Kirk, and he bounced through enough times to keep their relationships all warm and vital. He would’ve never been content to inhabit forever the bedroom allotted to him. But it his whenever he appeared.

“Would you rather be on New Vulcan, Spock?”

“This planet is your childhood home, and I am content to live here.”

“Do you miss your people?”

“So many of my people are gone. You and Jim and the crew of the Enterprise are my family now.”

“But would you like to be living on a colony in some other galaxy?”

“If you and I were younger, I would consider it. But you must be around what is familiar to you. That is the privilege of age. We do not need to be the pioneers. We can be content to stay with the familiar.”

“But it is familiar to me, not to you.”

“I have grown to accept it. I am acclimated to your world, and it is enough for me.”

“You unselfish bastard! It’s all for me, isn’t it?!”

“Do you have a problem with that?” Spock asked in amazement.

“Yeah,” McCoy grumbled, and the grumble had some of the sounds of authenticity to it. “There's nothing I can do for you.”

Such a look of astonishment went over Spock’s face that McCoy knew it represented what Spock was really thinking. “But every day you are here with me. You have given me yourself. Why would I want more than that?”

“I’m not supposed to be a god to you, you know.”

“Let me worship what I wish, Earthling, and we will get along.”

McCoy burst out in genuine laughter.

“I did not know that you could do that, Leonard. You have a nice laugh.”

“And I did not know that you were a comedian. I guess we both have hidden talents that are just coming out.”

“Every day with you is amazing and full of discovery.”

“Now, you’ve gone too far. You’re getting into the range of ridiculousness.”

“Maybe for you, but not for me.”

McCoy grinned. “I’m not going to get ahead of you, am I? You’re just going to stand there and worship the ground I walk on, aren’t you?”

“Lucky ground.”

“Oh, hell,” McCoy muttered. “And I thought I was a hopeless romantic.”

“I intend to stay ahead of you in that competition, Leonard. You brought it out in me.”

McCoy’s smile was so bittersweet that he thought that his lips were going to start quivering. “You know, I think that is one argument that I’m not going to mind losing to you. Because, no matter how I figure it, I’ll still come out the winner.”

“I beg to differ with your deduction, but I fear I can never convince you.”

“You can try, Vulcan,” McCoy said softly. “I’ll always welcome your efforts to try.”

“Leonard,” Spock murmured, and a beautiful smile curved along his lips.

McCoy could barely see to place his two fingers with Spock’s. It wasn’t the bright sun or the rising wind that temporarily blinded McCoy, but his own tears.

 

And then came the morning that Spock walked into the large, airy living room awash with light to find McCoy standing looking out the window without seeing. McCoy’s hands grasped his elbows, and his face looked tragic. Soft music floated through the room, but it was not soothing McCoy.

“Leonard. What is wrong?” Spock asked with alarm. “Jim? Any of our friends?”

McCoy straightened, but still held his elbows. “No, no, nothing as tragic as that. We still have the people we love.” His lips were almost quivering. His intense pain was very evident.

“Not people, then. But something we love.” His head came up. “The Enterprise? Something happened to her that cannot be corrected? This time, she cannot be resurrected?”

“No, not the Enterprise.” McCoy released his elbows. “The roses. Something happened to the roses.”

"What a tragedy. After all of your hard work.”

“Some sort of blight. I should‘ve been more diligent, and now they‘re dead.”

"I am so sorry.”

“But they were my gift, my living gift to you, along with my love. Losing them has taken the heart out of me.”

“The roses can be replanted.”

“But they were my friends! And now they‘re dead!” His voice sounded whinny and childish even to himself.

But Spock did not hear McCoy as childish. “You have lost so much in your life, and now you are asked to shoulder another disappointment.”

“Yeah, life sucks!”

“But it rejuvenates. And we will make the roses bloom again. And this time, I will help you. I wish to feel the pull of gravity beneath my feet as we work the soil. I wish to share that experience with you.”

“How can I ever repay you for being you?”

Spock looked wise and held out his hands. “Dance with me? While the morning breeze is blowing softly through our home, and the day is new?”

“Damn romantic Vulcan,” McCoy muttered as he moved into Spock’s arms.

They drifted slowly across their living room in time to the soothing music and dreamed of the roses in their future.

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing of Star Trek, its characters, and/or its story line.


End file.
